The Countdowns Are Coming: 2013 Stats

One last gasp before the countdowns begin on Monday.

A couple observations from this year's stats:
* While last year's album choices heavily favored male singers, this year the women came hard and made it 50/50
* The fourth quarter of the year continued to dominate, obliterating all other months with 65% of the albums on my countdown being released from September to November
* The U.S. got the highest percentage of representatives for the first time in a long while (even though a lot of those albums had Swedish production)
* This was the year of the veteran, well-known acts. 30% of these albums belong to artists that have been around for quite awhile. This isn't usually the case.
* It was all about the solo albums this year. C'mon, groups! Represent in 2014!

This year's albums:

Groups - 35% (way down from last year)
Solo Artists - 65% (way up from last year)

Debut Albums - 10% (down)
Second Albums - 25% (down)
Fourth Album (or higher!) - 30% (up)

Male Singers - 50% (way down)
Female Singers - 50% (way up)

American Acts - 35% (way up)
UK Acts - 20% (down)
Swedish Acts - 10% (up)
Danish Acts - 5% (even)
Finnish Acts - 5% (n/a)
Korean Acts - 15% (down)
Canadian Acts - 10% (even)

Released in the 1st Quarter (including Dec. '12) - 10% (down)
Released in the 2nd Quarter - 10% (even)
Released in the 3rd Quarter - 25% (up)
Released in the 4th Quarter - 65% (way up)
*and yes, there's a reason this adds up to more than 100%

The Countdowns Are Coming! Top Singles #100-51

My annual singles and albums countdowns start on Monday and continue on until the new year, and as usual it's been a great year for pop music. I only feature my top 50 singles (which is still a lot), but take a look at #100 to 51 here and ask yourself, if these excellent tracks weren't even in the top 50, what marvelousness is in store for next week?

51. Darin - So Yours
52. Shinee - Boys Meet U
53. The Fooo - Build A Girl
54. Avicii - Hey Brother
55. Capital Cities - Safe and Sound
56. Hanson - Get The Girl Back
57. Robbie Williams - Go Gentle
58. Ola - Jackie Kennedy
59. Natalia Kills – Problem
60. Martin Rolinski - In And Out Of Love
61. Naughty Boy - La La La
62. One Direction - Story Of My Life
63. Tegan & Sara – I Was A Fool
64. Anton Ewald - Can’t Hold Back
65. Infinite - Man In Love
66. The Fooo - Kangeroos
67. Bullock Hearts - The Moment
68. Girls' Generation - Galaxy Supernova
69. Yohio - Heartbreak Hotel
70. Diviney - Sex Games
71. Haim - The Wire
72. Frankmusik - Map
73. Bastille - Pompeii
74. Robin Thicke - Blurred Lines
75. Teen Top - Rocking
76. Eric Gadd - Vi Kommar Aldrig
77. 2NE1 - Do You Love Me
78. G-Dragon - Coup D'etat
79. Haim - Falling
80. Exo - Wolf
81. Lady Gaga - Applause
82. Isac Elliot - Dream Big
83. Ulrik Munther - Requiem
84. Jutty Ranx - I See You
85. G-Dragon - Michi Go
86. Shinee - Everybody
87. The Limousines - Love Is A Dog From Hell
88. Will.I.Am & Justin Bieber - #thatpower
89. Vixx - On And On
90. Robin Stjernberg - You
91. Robin Thicke - Give It To You
92. Daft Punk - Get Lucky
93. Infinite - Request
94. Zedd & Foxes - Clarity
95. Electric Lady Lab - Open Doors
96. Le Kid - We Are Young
97. Shinee - Breaking News
98. Icona Pop - All Night
99. The Killers - Shot In The Night
100. Little Mix - Move

Mikky Ekko - Kids

"Kids are gonna do what they want"

I'm not sure how I missed this track. I mean, I (like everyone else) heard and enjoyed Mikky's portion of Stay, the big Rihanna ballad this summer. I guess that wasn't enough to clue me into the fact that this guy could make interesting music on his own as well. Kids is just that... a midtempo rock/pop/electro hybrid that sounds kind of like something that MGMT would have released this year had they not gone all experimental. If you don't like it at first, wait until the synths come in during the chorus. It's not a hit-you-over-the-head bombastic anthem, but it definitely gets the job done and makes me very curious to see what his eventual album will be like.



(Music posted for evaluation purposes only. Buy the single here. Follow me on twitter and facebook.

Isak Danielson - Long Live This Love

"Survive the end of time"

Sweden may have only had one season of X-Factor, but true to the country's status as a top pop producer, they've already had a lot of artists come out of it. There's the winner Awa, whose first single was just released, and Manda and JEM who have each released a single and will be competing in next year's Melodifestivalen, and finally Oscar Zia who led his vocals to last year's MF and will be back again this year. The latest to put out some music is third place finisher Isak Danielson. On the show, he was a slightly dorky kid with a surprisingly mature voice. It seems that his tone has matured even further, as displayed in this drop dead gorgeous piano ballad. It's perfect for the winter. It also sounds so much like another song, but I can't for the life of me figure it out. Either way, it's a real impressive debut for Isak and I'm very excited to see what he releases next. I can't get over how mature and subtle this is for a kid his age.



(Music posted for evaluation purposes only. Find more info here. Follow me on twitter and facebook.